difficult stitches sampler progress

I haven’t actually made any progress on my difficult stitches sampler recently, as I have been busy with getting ready for the Sydney Quilt and Craft Show (Stand G32, if you’re going to be there!). I thought that you might like to see where I am up to though.

So far I have a section of plaited braid stitch, some diamond stitch, and interlaced chain stitch. As you can see, there’s a lot to go…!The idea of this sampler is that it will form the basis of a class on difficult and unusual embroidery stitches. By using a range of thread weights and types, it means that you can get a real feel for how the stitch works in different scales, textures and circumstances. I will be encouraging the students to work the stitches experimentally once they have mastered the basics.

I find this sort of work extremely fun, as you can try to think up new ways to push a stitch as far as you can. By playing with different thread weights, you can sometimes change the look of a stitch completely. By changing stitch length, angle and spacing, you can get enormously varied effects. Working in a circle is also sometimes a great challenge!

Thanks Rachel. Yes, I think it will be much more visually stimulating than straight lines of stitching! Actually, I am just writing up the class proposal now, and that was exactly the point of a sentence I had just added!